Fair Play
by Falcon's Jade
Summary: Marcus' brother Andre often went by the nickname Shea, and he had an interesting time during his prison sentence. Or, Detective Bell meets his brother's "friends" including an analyst, another genius, a bounty hunter, and a US Marshal who lands him in hot water.


Summary: Marcus' brother Andre often went by the nickname Shea, and he had an interesting time during his prison sentence. Or, Detective Bell meets his brother's "friends" including an analyst, another genius, a bounty hunter, and a US Marshal who lands him in hot water.

_I seriously can't be the only person who noticed that the actor who played Shea in Breakout Kings a few years ago also played Bell's brother. A brother who just left prison; disregarding all that was ever said about their backgrounds this was born._

**Juliana Simms**

It's a long road to recovery, even longer to try reconnecting with a brother who has already gone so far into the polar opposite of your world. Marcus tries, already feeling horribly guilty about dragging Shea into the whole frame up job he had gotten himself into. Shea is too, trying to show his brother and parole officer that he was fine and good and ready to reintegrate into society.

He's surprisingly good at the adjustment from prison to normal life again, but he had gotten early parole.

The Bell brothers are not ready to start looking too closely into each other's friends yet, but near the end of Andre's hospital stay Marcus walks into his room and sees an unfamiliar girl – blond, pretty, conservatively dressed and for all appearances someone that did not belong in Andre's social circle – his curiosity is piqued.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't realize Shea had other visitors today."

And only in Andre's criminal circles did people call him Shea.

"Who are you?" Marcus asks instead.

"I'm Juliana, a…friend of his," she is a terrible liar. "I heard about him getting hurt, but couldn't come any sooner. He's just in the bathroom now, be coming out soon. I'll take my leave."

"Wait…" Marcus didn't get to finish, the girl has already scampered away. Right after she left Andre comes into the room.

"This is a surprise, I wasn't expecting you until another day."

"Who was the girl who was here earlier?"

"Who?"

"Young, blond, soft voice?"

"That could be anyone, man, maybe she was in the wrong room."

"She called you Shea."

"Ah," and Marcus could see the walls slamming back in place, walls that they had been trying to wear down. "She is an old friend but we weren't really close, we've lost touch for a few years now. Maybe she just heard what happened and wanted to visit…but go easy on her if she backed off, she had multiple issues to deal with."

**Lloyd Lowery **

Marcus orders, threatens, and pleas for his brother to stop contacting his old friends. Andre denies, lies, argues, and even tries to guilt trip his brother about it. Somewhere along the way Andre gives his brother the key to his apartment, if only to prove he is not holding any illegal substances or arms, nor has he been entertaining house guests of the type.

In some ways it helps Marcus look out for his brother, he doesn't have to coordinate with his brother for every little visit and drop off. Even if Andre is away Marcus can help stock up groceries and other things. Andre tries to convey his gratitude by at least answering within an hour of his brother contacting him.

When Andre suddenly stops doing that, Marcus decides to see if something was up. He leaves a voice mail announcing his visit and receives a text from Shea telling him he was fine _don't come to visit _within seconds, naturally he is concerned. So he goes to Shea's apartment anyways and without knocking, unlocks the door.

Shea is fine and alive, he is sitting by his table and glaring across from him. The subject of his glare is a man with scruffy hair and clothing but eyes as keen as Sherlock's.

"This is a matter of pride," the stranger was saying.

"This is a matter for the police," Shea counters.

"You know they'll call for you sooner or later."

"And I can tell them where they can stick it, I'm done."

"I said that once, and look at where I am now."

"I left that all behind, I moved on. Why you even came here…"

"I know Juliana spoke to you, and Erica helped track you down. Do you really want to have her at your doorstep?"

"You just want to show you can help Juliana," Andre finally notices his brother, and he stands up. The stranger follows his gaze and notices they are no longer alone.

"Who's this, Shea?"

"None of your business, get out Lloyd."

"Oh, feeling protective are we?" The stranger, Lloyd, takes a few strides to the door, but stops when he's beside Marcus. The blond studies him with the same sharp gaze Marcus had seen Sherlock and now Joan look at crime scenes. "Not your parole officer, he was able to come in with a key. Not a friend, given the suit he wears. Definitely not a lover, guy like this wouldn't be anywhere near you but judging by the look you're giving me now I'll say: family."

"Leave him alone," Andre looks genuinely annoyed.

"And family who's trying to reconcile with you," Lloyd couldn't resist adding, "but he's clearly younger and it bothers you. You're trying to fight his battles for him right now, in fact, did you know you were doing that?"

The last thing Marcus needs is another Sherlock in his life, Lloyd simply grins at him and leaves before anymore could be said. Marcus turns back to his brother, "Who's that?"

"Not a friend," Andre glowers.

"That Juliana he mentioned, it wouldn't be the same Juliana I saw at the hospital would it? And he also called you Shea."

"Leave. It." Andre storms to the kitchen, Marcus follows.

"Andre, I need to know if your old contacts are trying to get you back into whatever illegal business they're doing…"

"I'm not doing anything!" Andre snaps back, "I'm not involved in anything, I haven't been able to do anything! And you can rest assured that even if Lloyd and Juliana manage to convince me to jump into their wagon it won't be illegal! Quite the opposite in fact!"

"Quite the opposite?" Marcus repeated, the wording was off, Andre would have simply left it not being illegal. The opposite of illegal to Andre wouldn't be simply just legal business, it would be legal-enforcing.

There was something else going on, and Andre clearly wasn't sharing.

**Erica Reed **

With only a first name and a face to go on, Marcus's intention of identifying Andre's not-friend would normally be daunting. As someone with access to the NYPD resources, the task was made much easier.

Lloyd Lowery was really a genius, multiple degrees and once a government worker before he was arrested for his involvement in a young woman's death. His trial had been quick, his sentence passed swiftly, but he had been involved in some work that allowed him a transfer to a minimum security prison and early release. The work was classified information, but the people who made it so? US Marshals; seemed like Lowery had been working with them in exchange for a lighter sentence.

Exactly what he was doing wasn't on record.

At least, it wasn't by the time Marcus looked at it.

"Detective Bell, is there a reason you're looking into a legal experiment that failed?" Sherlock declared loudly. Bell blinked, several officers gave Sherlock annoyed looks, but all resumed their business with the air of those used to Sherlock making a scene for something irrelevant to them.

"What?"

Sherlock pointed at the computer screen where Lowery's mug shot gazed at them, "I recognize this face. Not for his crimes or because I met him, but I had some contacts who told me about an experiment. The identities of the people involved were, as in many cases, classified information but Mr. Lowery here was sort of the tipping point for the failure of the experiment when he became witness and victim of a fugitive murderer the police were trying to catch."

"What was the fugitive's name?"

"You won't find much, the Damien Fontleroy case involved several cover ups and intentions to sweep everything under the rug. What was known at the time was that Fontleroy managed to escape prison and the team that pursued him lost one of its members, a US Marshal named Duchamp. Fontleroy killed him and was running around free for some more time, multiple teams were assigned but they couldn't find him. By the time he was back in custody he was a corpse."

Bell had a feeling he knew where this was going, "Suspicious circumstances?"

"The team who cornered him was Duchamp's team, all of whom were present when he died. One of them was accused of intentionally pushing Fontleroy off the building, to his death. Insert some fallout, questionable behavior and cover ups to protect some other people. No one outside of those involved knows what really happened. It was however, the end of Duchamp's team and thus, the experiment."

"What was the experiment?"

"To quote my contact," Sherlock adopted an even more exaggerated tone, "it takes a con to catch a con. If a convict escapes jail, find other convicts to track him down."

Bell snorted, "No way, letting convicted felons out of prison? They'll make a run for it."

"Hence why it was still in trial period," Sherlock nodded. Gregson chose that moment to show up and without a goodbye Sherlock was hurrying out after the captain, eager to see another crime scene. Bell minimized the screen with Lowery's records and pulled out the database on the US Marshals instead.

Charlie Duchamp, Killed In Action, his records made mention of him leading a team but there was nothing about said team. Nothing about convicts, no mention of Lowery, not even the newspapers covering the incident said anything. If there was information, Marcus didn't have the clearance to access it.

Why would it matter? Duchamp may have played a role in Lowery's life but he had no relation to Andre, unless…

No.

Impossible.

But Andre had been able to transfer prisons with Lowery, and when Marcus checked the dates again it was in the same period. Like Lowery, Andre was released early. Marcus quickly called in a favor from a parole hearing officer. Within minutes the documents were in his email.

What do you know, a name appeared in both Andre's and Lowery's records, a Juliana Simms. A quick check back in the US Marshal database pulled up a picture that confirmed Marcus' suspicions of what she may look like. Juliana also helped sign out one other person for early release, an Erica Reed.

Didn't Lowery mention an Erica helping him track Andre down? If this was the same Erica, her last listed occupation before prison was bounty hunter, people famous for tracking down other people.

Erica was indeed back to tracking people, she managed to break into a house that was actually holding a child hostage so that they could ransom some wealthy CEO. Breaking in was easy, hearing that the child had been moved was disappointing, but somehow when breaking out she managed to trip the alarm.

Thugs were shouting and running quickly, the men she had heard conversing about the child's move spotted her and gave chase. She knocked them unconscious with a well placed kick, "Sorry boys, I don't intend to stay here any longer than I already have."

"Stop her!"

"Shoot her!"

"She's getting away!"

Erica sprinted down the corridors and broke another man's wrist before she made it to the window. She threw another thug through it first to break the glass and to cushion her fall when she jumped out. There was shouting around her and orders for the thugs to block the gates, and she rolled her eyes, what moron would run to the gates now?

She climbed up a tree and swung over the walls surrounding the garden instead. Landing on her feet she dashed down the street to where her non-descriptive rental was parked. Slipping inside, she shut the door and was motionless as the thugs came out, no doubt guessing she had somehow still escaped them. They ran off in different directions, some coming dangerously close to her but she remained motionless, and they ran past her into the night.

"Well, I'm definitely impressed."

In one fluid motion Erica had a gun in her hand and was pointing at the backseat. A man sat comfortably there, hands on his lap and clearly not holding anything. Although not particularly formal he was dressed in business attire and tie.

"Who are you?"

"That question seems to be getting asked a lot, my name is Marcus…"

"Bell, Shea's brother, also known as Andre. What is the NYPD doing in my car?"

"Do I even want to know how you suddenly know me?"

"I did some research after Lloyd came back from your brother's place, told me off for simply giving him the address on the parole officer's file. Should have looked up Shea's listed contacts if I had known it would be something he would hold over me. Marcus Bell, brother of Andre 'Shea' Bell, work contact number the NYPD. Imagine my surprise, Shea's tangle with law enforcement wasn't just his arrest or the marshals. Is Shea the reason the NYPD is in my car now?"

"I'm not here as the NYPD, but I could be and I will tell your parole officer you've been trespassing into private property and carrying an unregistered firearm if you don't answer some questions."

"Aren't you a charmer," Erica drawled. "Can we at least do this elsewhere?"

"I'll also let you know I know you were suspected of hiding the corpses of some victims so well they couldn't pin it on you, if I disappear tonight I have enough files out telling any investigator what I was up to."

"I wasn't planning to kill you, are you always this suspicious? Don't answer that, I know." She turned the engine on anyways, and drove them out of the neighborhood. Marcus noted that her frown was distant, her gaze thoughtful, and knew she had other things in mind.

"If you're still thinking of what happened back there, I'll prefer it if you focus on my questions instead. Let me assure you that you didn't mess up, I tricked the men inside earlier to release the child to an undercover officer and set up a remote trigger for the alarm instead."

"You confessed to setting those men on me and expect me to answer all your questions now?"

"I know you weren't paid for this particular mission, this was you trying to rescue a child. As for the men, the commotion you made would have the neighbors calling the police. I was on standby watching in case anything went wrong, but like I said earlier, I was impressed; you took everyone down without a scratch."

It was a compliment, and it wasn't like she really had a choice. Erica gave a quick glance at the mirror to meet her passenger's gaze, "What do you want to know?"

**Ray Zancanelli **

Andre was angry at his brother for going behind his back to get information. Marcus was angry at his brother for not telling him everything. The Bell brothers were clearly Not Speaking.

Gregson noticed that his best detective had been sullen the last few days. Sherlock announced to a room full of cops that Marcus was angry his brother wasn't just a convict but a convict who worked with another policing agency. Joan told him off for his lack of social tact. Marcus wonders why Sherlock seem unable to understand he was mad at his brother for not telling him the truth.

Shea makes his appearance again, the former gang leader may not directly make contact with his old crowd but he would appear in certain places and certain times, either Lloyd or Erica at his side and he would direct them to speak to certain people. Juliana is almost always on the phone with them. None of them would say what they're up to.

By himself Marcus could not find any answers, with Gregson's resources, not to mention the intellect of both Sherlock and Joan, the truth came out.

Gregson was able to get the file on the Breakout Kings, which said a lot more than Erica's clipped answers. Andre, calling himself Shea Daniels, had indeed been on the team with Lloyd Lowery and Erica Reed. There had been other convicts, convicts who had made the bad decision of taking advantage and gotten their sentences doubled. The team was led by Charlie Duchamp until his death, and a reinstated marshal named Ray Zancanelli, original pioneer of the team, had taken point.

They had enjoyed high success rates until the Fontleroy case where not the convicts but the sole marshal of the team, Zancanelli, became suspected of murdering their target. When none of the convicts said anything, the whispers began again. Lowery was the one Fontleroy haunted, Reed was the one closest to Duchamp, Shea had the violent background, Zancanelli may be their friend or he may be a handler they all feared.

Sherlock even manage to deduce that the person in charge of the investigation may have had issues with Zancanelli from the beginning. The man made mention of Zancanelli's crimes several times. That was when all the trouble and cover ups began, investigators and internal affairs and psychiatrists all speaking to the involved parties. According to records, Juliana violently snapped and Lowery accused the investigators of seeking a false confession.

Then suddenly, the convicts all confessed in witnessing Zancanelli push Fontleroy to his death. Zancanelli managed to escape arrest and had been on the run since, the three convicts were granted almost immediate release with the understanding that they would never speak of their experience.

Joan proposed the idea it was a setup, the three prisoners had been transported back to their separate maximum security prisons, the chances they all wanted to confess at the same time was slim. Sherlock even suggested the methods used, clever ideas perhaps picked up from all their cases involving disguises, misdirection, and hiding in plain sight. When internal affairs had gone to arrest Zancanelli he had already left his home and apparently set his affairs in order days or even weeks before.

Naturally, after time passed and the Zancanelli trail grew colder and colder, law enforcement wanted his old team to catch him. Whoever thought that up had a sense of irony, using Zancanelli's own creation against him. The question was whether the Breakout Kings were really looking for Zancanelli or simply wasting time, or perhaps they were looking for Zancenelli and had no intention of handing him over. They might even plan to help him escape.

Marcus was horrified at the idea that again, for ideas like 'brotherhood', Andre may be planning or already committing another felony – aiding in the escape of a wanted man.

"It's elementary," Sherlock doesn't seem particularly concerned. They're all standing in the captain's office with the doors closed and feeling like they may be infringing on another jurisdiction, but Sherlock never really cared about the logistics of the different law agencies. "If you're this worried about your brother who I judge to be the stubborn type and can't be convinced by your words, there's only one solution to keeping your brother out of prison."

"Yea?" Marcus knew he was going to regret this, "What's your idea?"

"We find Zancanelli and turn him in first."

* * *

_Do readers prefer I use the name "Shea" or "Andre"? I keep mistyping "Shea" to "She" so prefer Andre, but any objections? _

_Reviews shall be loved, suggestions should be considered! _


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